Ayala exits BPO firm

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. has unloaded its 58.71-percent stake in Integreon Inc., a leading global provider of legal support, research and business services, further reducing its interest in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, Ayala said its wholly owned subsidiary LiveIt Investments Ltd. has divested its interest in Integreon, a British Virgin Island (BVI) business company.  The divestment will be through a business combination transaction with another BVI business company, Anchorage Merger Sub Ltd.

Anchorage is under IGL Services Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of several private equity funds managed by NewQuest Capital Partners, Asia’s leading private equity platform for secondary  transactions.

As a result of the business combination, LiveIt exercised its right to exchange all of its shares of stock in Integreon for consideration. In this merger, Integreon is the surviving entity.

LiveIt would be retaining its other BPO investments such as in HRMall and AffinityX. HRMall is seen providing strategic value for the Ayala Group’s HR (human resources) requirements while AffinityX is a global leader in advertising and marketing production services.

Ayala said both continued to achieve meaningful growth and profitability.

In 2014, LiveIt also sold its stake in Stream Global Services Inc. to US-based Convergys Corp. in a deal that created the world’s second largest customer management services provider.

But while Ayala has been reducing its interest in the BPO industry, it has expanded its investments in the human capital space to include education.